Conduct Unbecoming a Colonial

Angry Villagers Demand Two Dutchmen Be Sentenced to Prison and Deported for Assaulting Local Residents in East Bali.

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(9/10/2017)

A 74-year-old Dutch resident living in Karangasem and his 17-year-old son were taken into custody by police at the Abang, Karangasem police precinct.

The two men, Bernardus C. Hock Alexander (74) and Constantine Alexander (17), were arrested in a reported assault on two neighbors living near the Dutchman’s Villa Pondok Laut located at Purwekerti Village.

According to NusaBali, the attack took place on Monday afternoon, September 4, 2017, when the father-son team was said to have attacked another father-son team hailing from the surrounding Balinese community.

The two Balinese men injured in the alleged assault were I Wayan Sudarma Alit (41) and his son I Gede Sudarmayasa (19) from Banjar Lebah. Villagers told polcie the men suffered facial and body wounds in the altercation that took place on Jalan Raya Banjar, Amed in front of the Villa Pondok Laut that has been the home to the two Dutchmen for a number of years.

Police say the Balinese men were moving bamboo down the road for use in repairs to their home when the younger Dutchman verbally challenged them and began shoving his neighbors. The elder Dutchmen was said to have then joined the fray, beating the Balinese men who work as fishermen.

After delivering their beating, the Dutchmen reportedly returned to their villa only to re-emerge moments later carrying wooden clubs to do battle with the villagers.

Local villagers, incited by the aggression of the foreigners living in their community, formed a large group on the road in front of the villa. Fortunately, the arrival of police, led by the head of the Abang police precinct, I Nyoman Sugita Yasa, managed to disperse the angry crowd by taking the two Dutchmen into protective custody.

Investigating the incident and interviewing the Dutchmen, police later determined charges of assault would be filed against the foreigners under a section of the criminal code that carries a maximum penalty of 5 years and 6 months in prison. The older Dutchman was held by police on pending criminal charges, while his son, still a minor under Indonesian law, was returned to the care of his Indonesian Mother.

Police said the two Dutchmen had a reputation for precipitating public unrest via angry complaints about their Balinese neighbors. Wayan Sudarma, the victim of the attack, said past angry complaints were made for matters as inconsequential as the sound of a crying baby, smoke caused by burning wood for fuel, and the noise of motorbikes passing in front of their villa.

Sudarma told police that the presence of the Dutch residents was a continuing cause of unrest in the local community.

Meanwhile, Constantine Alexander admitted he has often complained about his neighbor playing amplified music from morning to night. The Dutch teenager told police that the Balinese men initiated the attack and he reacted, instinctually using skills acquired during advanced Karate training.

Constantine, who was born and riased in Bali, is fluent in English, Dutch, Balinese and Indonesian.

Bernardus C. Hock Alexander told police he had complained “hundreds of times” without success about the loud amplified music emanating from Wayan Sudarma’s nearby dwelling.

Meanwhile, Sudarma told police that because of his wounds he is still not fit to go to sea in search of fish.

A subsequent report from Beritabali.com reports that villagers are calling for the maximum criminal penalty to be imposed on the two foreigners, that their villa be closed, and once their sentences are served the Father and Son be deported from Indonesia.

I Wayan Suanda, the village chief (Kelian) of the local banjar said, “In the name of the local citizens, I hope the perpetrators will be punished to the full extent of the law, that their villa be closed, and, after finishing their sentences, they be deported back to their home country.”

Suanda accompanied by community leaders and some 116 village representatives delivered these demands from the village in a meeting with the head of the Abang Police Precinct held on Tuesday, September 5, 2017.

The local police chief told the public that the criminal charges were being processed according to standard operating procedures to be turned over to prosecutors in due course.

The decision to deport the two men was a matter at the discretion of immigration authorities, said Sugita.

Accepting that the two men were no longer welcomed in the community, the Police Precinct Chief secured promises from community leaders that they would respect the law and would refrain from any retaliatory attack on the villa owned by the Dutchman’s Indonesian wife.